African and Caribbean

South African authorities have started building a new Football for Hope center — the first of 20 planned around the continent as part of a 2010 World Cup campaign to combat AIDS, poverty and crime and to uplift local communities that live far away from flashy stadiums.

Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika, a former World Bank official credited with bringing economic gains to the southern African nation of 12 million, on Friday was declared the winner of a national election.

Health activists said Tuesday that a shortfall in promised U.S. funding for HIV/AIDS projects would affect over 30 million people and means President Barack Obama risks reversing the gains made by his predecessor.

Clamor fills the factory as workers bent over their industrial sewing machines stitch together women's garments at galloping speed. Yet the vast workshop is only half full, its blank benches a testimony to how the global financial meltdown swings back at the developing world.